


Fire Breather

by MissXolo



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Artist Lio Fotia, Fluff, Mild Language, Multi, PBB2020, Promare Big Burn 2020, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissXolo/pseuds/MissXolo
Summary: Galo’s first year at college is going pretty well - he’s found a nice group of friends, his roommate is nice, and his classes aren’t that hard. Of course, it helps that the cute guy with the mint-blonde hair keeps knocking on his door every night to ask for honey to put in his evening cup of tea.This fic follows Galo and Lio’s first year at college. They’re both obviously pining over each other, and everyone else in the dorm knows - except the boys themselves. They eventually figure things out after a wild Friday night set up by their friends (Gueira and Meis, mainly). Just your average college AU with our best boys.
Relationships: Gueira/Meis (Promare), Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28
Collections: Promare Big Burn 2020





	1. A New Start

Galo Thymos was fidgeting with excitement as he finished unloading his last suitcase from the Uber driver’s trunk. He was a bit jet-lagged from his flight, but ultimately his jitters won over his sleepiness. This was the start of his freshman year of college - his opportunity to finally break out of his relatively quiet suburban neighborhood to do something great with his life.

He didn’t really have much with him; just the necessities like toiletries, clothes, bed linens, and all of that college dorm stuff. He figured he’d be able to stock up on food and whatnot when the freshmen took a bus trip to a local market in a few days. For now, though, he had to focus on moving all of his suitcases up to the third floor of his dorm building where he’d be spending the first year of his new life at Promepolis University. This was it. This was where he was going to study hard, earn a degree in health sciences, and go on to be an emergency medical technician so he could help people in crisis. This was where his future began.

> @redpanda813

Promepolis University didn’t allow students to choose their roommates or the number of roommates they would have, so Galo was lucky to only have one roommate. He had heard that there was a quad room on his floor, so he was glad to only be sharing a room with one other person as opposed to three strangers. Although he was a people person, a quad would be pushing it a bit.

The first person Galo met was his resident assistant, who introduced herself as “Mollie the RA”. She said she would be living on the same floor as him and that she would be helping him and his floormates learn the ways of Promepolis University - the rules, the layout of campus, how to add and drop classes, where the dining hall was - before classes started. At this point, he had already forgotten her name and was busy taking in his new living space. The dorm itself wasn’t too bad. The hallway was a little small - borderline claustrophobic, actually - but the rooms themselves weren’t that small, nor were they too big. Each door had decorated slips of paper stuck to them with names written in a large, artistic font to indicate who was residing in each room for the year. Galo made his way to room 327 where he would be living with his roommate and found one name tag with his name on it and another with “Remi” written on it in the same curly-lettered font. He couldn’t help but crack a huge smile; he couldn’t wait to meet Remi.

Remi showed up about half an hour later while Galo was busy fitting his clothes into his set of drawers. He was slightly taller than Galo with short, blueish-green hair and black glasses. Galo, whose body was bursting with pent-up excitement, dropped everything he was doing so he could properly introduce himself to Remi.

“Hey there!” he chirped. “You’re Remi, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Remi Puguna,” the other young man replied. He reached a hand out and seemed startled by Galo’s firm grip as he returned the handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Remi! I’m Galo Thymos. Most of my stuff is unpacked by now, so do you want some help bringing your things up?”

“Sure, that would be really nice, if you don’t mind.”

“Great! Let’s go grab your bags, then!”

While Remi also didn’t have too many bags and suitcases, the two freshmen took quite a bit of time to bring up all of his items from the first floor of the dormitory. Part of that had to do with all of the people who were showing up to move in. Both Remi and Galo wanted to introduce themselves to the other new students, so they had to make frequent stops to say hello and have short conversations. The other part was that Galo was so busy talking to Remi that he kept missing steps on the stairs leading to the third floor, which resulted in him having to stop, make a remark about how silly he was, and pick up the bags he dropped.

Once the boys had finished unpacking all of Remi’s things and the rest of what Galo hadn’t unpacked yet, they sat on their respective beds to rest and get to know the other better. Galo explained that he was from the outskirts of Chicago, and learned that Remi was from New York. Unlike Galo, Remi didn’t have to pay money to have extra suitcases on a flight to Promepolis; he lived close enough to drive to campus.

“So I have my car parked in the lot behind the Dining Hall. You know how the University normally has a bus trip to the market for freshmen?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about going on that to get some snacks for our room. I can’t survive for long without pizza rolls,” Galo said, grinning sheepishly.

“Well, you don’t need to take the bus. We can just go in my car whenever we need something. We could go tomorrow afternoon if you’d like,” Remi offered with a small smile.

“Wait, really? That sounds perfect!” Galo replied.

In that moment, a loud crash in the hallway caught their attention. Both young men stood and peered into the long hallway, finding two girls a few doors down struggling to prevent another one of their totes from falling to the floor like the previous one had. Galo and Remi jogged down the hall to give them a bit of assistance. Remi, who was taller than the pink-haired girl trying to juggle the stack of totes, was able to lift the tote on the top of the stack before it fell on her while Galo began helping the smaller girl pick up the items from the first tote that were scattered on the floor. None of the things that had fallen out of the tote were broken, thank goodness. _Crisis averted_ , Galo thought to himself.

“Thanks for the help, guys,” the smaller girl said. She had blonde hair with pink streaks in it that was tied up into two buns, and she was very petite. If Galo hadn’t known better, he might have mistaken her for a child judging by her height and stature. The other girl had pink hair that was pulled into a side ponytail, and she was closer to Galo’s height. The two girls appeared to be moving into the same room; both beds were made, and the suitcases and totes were color-coded - pink suitcases for the pink-haired girl, gray and blue totes for the shorter girl. Galo realized that the shorter girl was saying something, and he quickly pulled himself out of his musings.

“Sorry, what?” he asked.

“I asked if you were a freshman,” the shorter girl said. “I wanted to introduce myself, especially if we’re going to be living on the same floor or something.”

“Oh - yes, actually. I’m Galo Thymos, and this is Remi. We live in room 327, down that way,” he replied, pointing in the direction of the room.

“Nice. My name is Lucia. I’m also a freshman, and I’m living in this room, if that wasn’t already obvious.”

“I’m Aina,” the pink-haired girl said. “Lucia and I are roommates, too. Are you guys in a double, or did you get stuck with the quad?”

Galo and Remi shared a look. “We’re just in a double. We haven’t met the people in the quad yet, but I feel a little bad for them,” Remi answered.

“Listen, I wouldn’t be too mad if I got stuck with the quad,” Lucia said. “The fourth person isn’t showing up - I don’t really know why - so the three people living there are gonna have extra space, an extra bed, extra storage… it kinda sounds like a good deal to me.”

“It is a good deal,” Aina chimed in. “Like, imagine you want to have a friend over to visit. You have an entire set of furniture for them and you wouldn’t have to share a bed or make them sleep on the floor.”

The more Galo thought about it, the more it _did_ sound like a good deal. Having extra space in a college dorm was almost always a plus. Maybe the people living in the quad would be willing to share their space with the rest of the floor. Unlike the first and second floors, the third floor didn’t have a common room where students could hang out, eat together, watch movies, have parties… perhaps, if the rest of the floor asked nicely, the people in the quad would use their extra space as a mock common room! It would be so fun! They could put a TV on a dresser, turn the extra bed into a couch - okay, Galo was getting ahead of himself. He made a mental note to find out who lived in the quad and to make friends with them as soon as he could.

“Well, it was nice meeting you two, but Aina and I are going to get back to unpacking,” Lucia said, smiling lightly. “Thanks again for helping with the totes.”

“See you at orientation!” Aina called from inside the room.

Remi and Galo said their goodbyes before heading back to their room. By now, it was nearing dinner time, and both boys were almost starving after a long day of travelling, unpacking, and meeting new people. They sorted through the sparse collection of packaged food that Remi had brought with him and eventually decided to cook some instant noodles in the microwave that Promepolis University provided in each room. The noodles actually weren’t that bad, Galo decided. Not as good as traditionally-cooked noodles, but for a college student, instant noodles were perfect.

After eating dinner, Galo left the room to Remi in favor of exploring the campus more. He wandered from building to building, looking into the empty classrooms and figuring out where his classes would be. Once he got to the health science building, he pulled out his phone to check which rooms he’d be having class in this semester. Thankfully, all of his classes were on the first floor, so if he was late he wouldn’t have to run up the stairs to get to class. After he found all of his classrooms for this semester, he decided to keep exploring the campus. The sun was starting to set, covering the academic halls and other buildings in a warm glow. The library wasn’t open yet, since the school year was just beginning, but he walked around the outside just for fun. The art building looked interesting, but he didn’t think he’d be spending a lot of time there. Art classes weren’t really part of being a health science major. 

Having satisfied himself, Galo returned to his room. Remi was already organizing what he was going to wear for orientation week; he had a few outfits laid out on his bed and seemed to be torn between a navy blue collared shirt and a dark teal pullover sweater for the first day of orientation. “I’d go for the sweater,” Galo said as he walked in and took off his shoes. “Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, but it’s already getting cold.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Remi replied. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’m gonna go to bed soon.”

“That’s fine by me!” Galo responded. “I was gonna do the same thing. I just have to find my pajamas first. Got them mixed in with my pants or something when I was putting my clothes in the dresser.”

He had quite some trouble finding his pajamas, considering the fact that he hadn’t exactly folded his clothes when he was putting them away. He’d have to fix that later or else all of his shirts would be wrinkly. For now, though, Galo was content with changing into his favorite pajamas, popping in his earbuds, and settling into his new bed where he quickly succumbed to sleep.


	2. Orientation

When he woke up, Galo had no clue where he was. It took him a full minute and a half to realize that he hadn’t been kidnapped or transported to a new dimension; he was at college in a bed that, at this point, was still unfamiliar. Then it hit him - today was the first day of freshman orientation! He had to get himself together and eat breakfast so he could be ready for a long day of meetings, introductions, and a bunch of organizational stuff that was supposed to prepare the new students for their first semester in college.

When he left his bedroom to brush his teeth and style his hair, he saw that Remi was already eating breakfast in their little kitchen. He was already dressed, had a pair of sneakers on, and had his small backpack next to him. In fact, he seemed to be ready to go.

“Hey, you’re up early!” Galo called to him. “Early bird?”

“I’m on time, actually,” Remi corrected. “The first session with our RA starts in fifteen minutes.”

For a second, Galo hesitated. Then, as if burned, he sprung into action, quickly brushing his teeth and styling his hair into soft spikes. He couldn’t be late on his first day! What kind of example would that be setting for his first semester?!

As Galo grabbed his backpack, Remi tossed him a granola bar. “You have to eat something,” he said, shrugging. “We’ll go shopping later. I hope you like Quaker Oats.”

Galo’s evening walk from the night before turned out to be very beneficial; Remi knew that their floor was supposed to be meeting in front of Ignis Hall, but he had no idea where that was on campus. Thankfully, Galo remembered seeing a grassy spot in front of that hall, and he led Remi to that area where the rest of the students on their floor were already seated in a circle on the grass. 

As Galo got closer to his floormates, he began thanking everything in life that led him to enrolling at Promepolis.

Sitting between two other boys was a young man with mint-blonde hair. His bangs brushed lightly over his eyes, which seemed to have a roaring fire behind them. He had a small, lithe figure, but he was clearly strong for his size. He talked back and forth with the two young men on either side of him, one with flaming red hair and a fierce attitude, the other more mellow with a thick Southern accent. All three shared a similar style - each was wearing leather in some form. The blonde boy seemed to like leather the most out of the three; his both his pants _and_ his jacket were full leather, along with his shoes, which had a small heel.

Galo was screwed.

Growing up, he was thoroughly baffled by his sexuality. He knew that he liked women, and he enjoyed his time with the few girlfriends he had in middle school and high school. He thought women were nice and all, but he also knew that he was interested in men. As someone from a fairly progressive city and an accepting family, he wasn’t really worried that his parents would react poorly or that he would be shunned from his community for being romantically interested in his own gender. However, there was always a part of him that wasn’t sure - maybe he would be shunned, maybe his parents would stop talking to him, maybe his friends would be embarrassed to be around him. So, to protect himself from these (perhaps far-fetched) fears of rejection, he kept these feelings to himself. He rarely toyed with the idea of coming out as bisexual. He even thought about ignoring his sexuality completely. Now, he was reconsidering his choices.

“Hey there, Galo!”

Galo almost jumped when Aina yelled his name. She and Lucia appeared to have saved spots for him and Remi in the circle. Even though he would have rather sat near the blonde boy and his friends, he took his seat on the grass next to Aina. Remi quickly followed suit.

The RA that Galo met yesterday - _Mary? Maddie? Mackenzie?_ \- counted heads before beaming and clasping her hands together. “Alright, Ardor Hall!” She called out. “Welcome to your first day of orientation!”

Everyone began to settle down, giving their attention to the RA. She reintroduced herself as Mollie, thank goodness, and started talking about what the rest of their orientation schedule was going to be like. Pocket-sized orientation pamphlets started making their way around the circle and she listed their upcoming required events. On Tuesday, everyone had to meet with their academic advisor. On Wednesday, there was a mandatory meeting about drug and alcohol use on campus. On Thursday, there was a presentation about different clubs and organizations sponsored by Promepolis U. 

At this point, Galo was completely zoned out. He was trying to focus, he really was, but his eyes kept drifting to the mint-blonde boy. There was a gentle breeze blowing that was moving strands of the boy’s shoulder-length hair away from his beautiful face, giving Galo a view of his strong jawline and high cheekbones. If he was being honest, the boy looked like he was glowing.

> @redpanda813

“We’re gonna start with personal introductions,” Mollie said. “I want everyone to say their name, where they’re from, and what they want to major in, if you know at this point. We’ll just go around the entire circle. I’ll go first. I’m Mollie, I’m from Philadelphia, and I’m a junior early education major with a minor in business and management studies. Okay, your turn!”

Slowly, everyone began introducing themselves. Galo, not wanting to sound like a fool in front of everyone, rehearsed what he was going to say. _Galo, health sciences, Chicago. Galo, health sciences, Chicago._ Still, he kept glancing at the blonde boy. Suddenly, Lucia tapped him on his shoulder. He leaned across Aina - much to her annoyance - to hear what Lucia wanted to tell him.

“You know, he’s gonna think you’re a creep if you keep staring at him,” she whispered. He blushed crimson. Was it really that obvious? Did everyone know?!

“Stop it! He’s fine. You’re making it weird!” Aina whispered as Lucia snickered to herself. Aina turned to Galo. “Just act normal,” she told him.

The person to the right of Lucia finished introducing herself, and now it was Lucia’s turn.

“My name’s Lucia. I’m from New York City and I’m going to be an engineering major with a computer science minor.” _Impressive,_ Galo thought to himself. It took a lot of guts for a young woman to forge her path in both of those fields. Props to Lucia. Aina cleared her throat, preparing herself to speak.

“Hey everyone, I’m Aina! I’m from Ohio. I’m pretty sure I want to study health sciences so I can be an EMT, and I might minor in psychology or something.” And now, it was Galo’s turn. _Okay, Galo. Act natural._

“Oh that’s cool!” he replied to Aina’s introduction. He turned back to face the rest of the circle. “My name’s Galo and I also want to study health sciences! I don’t know exactly what I want to be, but I want to help people so health sciences seems like the way to go! I think being an EMT would be awesome! Oh, and I’m from Chicago.” He smiled. _That wasn’t so bad._

“Wow, I guess this is the right place to be a health science major.” Remi continued. “I’m Remi and I’m also from NYC,” he said, giving a short wave to Lucia, who flashed him finger guns in return. “I’m planning on doing a double major consisting of health sciences and business management. I might even add a minor to it, but I don’t know yet. It depends on how full my schedule gets with both majors.” His introduction received some raised eyebrows and impressed noises from the rest of the floor.

The introductions continued, and soon, it was time for the mint-blonde boy and his friends to introduce themselves. Galo sat up a little straighter.

The boy with the red hair was first.“Hey, I’m Gueira, I’m from Florida. I don’t really know what I want to major in, but I might be a sociology major. Seems interesting and I know a lot about people so I think it would be fun, but we’ll see.”

The boy with the Southern accent, who had moved to sit next to Gueira, was next. “I’m Meis - I’m from Texas. I’ll probably major in communications and journalism.”

Finally, the moment Galo was waiting for. He schooled his face into a neutral, but positive expression, just in case the boy looked his way.

“Hello, my name is Lio and I’m from Detroit. I’m hoping to be an art or art history major.” _Lio_ , Galo’s brain said. _Lio. Gotta remember that. Lio._

“Dude, show them your jacket,” Gueira said, elbowing Lio gently.

“Oh, this old thing?” Lio laughed. He shrugged out of his jacket - _relax, Galo_ \- and flipped it around so that the rest of the circle could see the back. A pink and blue flame was stitched into the leather, and the rest of the floor let out a few oohs and ahs. “I made this myself,” Lio explained. “The fabric is reflective. My friends from home like to go biking with me, so this helps other people on the road see us. I personalized some of their jackets, too. No one left behind, y’know?”

If Galo wasn’t smitten already, he was now.

The rest of the floor was also impressed by this, and Lio was flooded with comments like “That’s really nice!” and “I like that!” There were only a few people left who hadn’t introduced themselves yet. Their introductions took about two minutes, and then the attention was back on Mollie. She stood, and the rest of the floor followed suit.

“Okay, guys! We’re going to go on a quick tour of campus, and then we’ll break for lunch. After that, you all are free until tomorrow morning,” she explained.

The campus tour was pretty uneventful. Galo mainly stuck with Remi, Aina, and Lucia, since he didn’t want to get too close to Lio and look like a “creep” in Lucia’s terms. He wasn’t paying attention to Mollie during the tour because he had already seen all of the buildings and whatnot during his walk last night. He already knew where his classes were going to be, where the dining hall was, and where the library was. What else was there to know?

During the tour, Galo became immersed in his thoughts. It was kind of silly of him to be so enamored by Lio. He didn’t even know the guy. For all he knew Lio could be a criminal, or he could already have a boyfriend. _Or girlfriend,_ Galo’s mind supplied. Maybe he wasn’t even interested in men. Anyways, what did Galo have to offer? He was just some guy from the outskirts of Chicago, trying to study health sciences and find a way to make a living. Why should this cute - no, beautiful - artist be interested in him? He couldn’t even compare to Lio, just going off of appearance alone. Slowly, Galo found himself in a downward spiral that kept leading him to the disappointing conclusion that he would probably never even catch Lio’s attention, let alone earn his affections.

Eventually, the tour came to an end, and Mollie dismissed the group so they could go to lunch and enjoy their free time. Galo was vaguely aware of the rest of the group breaking off into smaller groups and dispersing. He looked up when Remi touched his arm lightly.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked Galo. “You look kinda upset.”

Galo shook his head. “No, I’m good. Just in my head.” Remi didn’t seem convinced by his answer, but he didn’t say anything.

“You know, we don’t have to eat lunch here,” Remi said. “We can go through a drive-thru in town, and then we could go shopping for groceries. You need your pizza rolls, don’t you?”

He thought for a second before breaking into a huge grin. “That would be great, Remi. Thanks.”

* * *

Remi was a pretty good driver, Galo decided. Being from New York City must have taught him how to deal with traffic and crazy drivers. Driving around the town surrounding Promepolis U was probably super easy to him.

They stopped at the McDonald’s drive-thru for lunch. Remi pulled into a spot in the parking lot so he didn’t have to eat and drive at the same time. Once parked, he turned to Galo.

“Can I ask you something?” he began.

“Sure, shoot.”

“Are you gay?”

Galo felt his stomach drop. “I consider myself bi,” he responded. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious,” Remi replied. “It doesn’t matter to me; I just saw how you were looking at that Lio guy earlier. Personally, I’ve been questioning my sexuality for a couple of years.” That made Galo feel a little better. At least Remi wasn’t angry at him about it.

“Yeah, I mean I think he’s attractive, but I don’t know him yet,” Galo said quietly.

“But you can get to know him,” Remi said, taking a bite of his chicken sandwich. “I think he lives in the quad with Gueira and Meis. They looked like they knew each other and there’s three of them, so it would make sense.”

“Actually, I think you’re right. I didn’t see any other groups of three that were close like they were.”

“Galo, you didn’t see any other groups because you couldn’t take your eyes off of Lio.”

“You’ve got me there.”

They finished their lunch and Remi drove off toward the grocery store. Inside, they split up to do their individual shopping. After picking out a bag of pizza rolls, Galo got some noodles, fresh fruit, tea bags, honey, and some breakfast bars just in case he ended up running late for something again.

On the ride home, Galo began drafting an email to his academic advisor. He had no idea how to pronounce the professor’s name, but he seemed nice from the conversations that they’d had so far. He definitely helped Galo when he was selecting classes by steering him away from the 200-level chemistry course, explaining that Galo would be better off starting with a 100-level course in chemistry due to his lack of chemistry classes in high school.

All freshmen were required to meet with their advisor tomorrow, and considering the large number of health science majors on his floor alone, Galo was starting to worry that he wouldn’t be able to get a meeting scheduled. He figured he should send the professor an email as soon as possible in the hopes that his advisor still had some meeting times open.

Once Remi and Galo made it back to the dorm, they began unpacking their groceries together. Remi bought some instant coffee, which Galo thought was a super smart move on his end. Together, they decided that they’d probably end up sharing most of the groceries anyway, since neither of them cared if the other ate something that they bought. Their room had a nice set of cabinets which they gladly made use of to store their non-perishable items. The rest of the groceries went into the small fridge in the corner of their kitchen.

The duo went to their separate bedrooms to get some preliminary work done. Some classes, including the 200-level biology course Galo was taking, required some readings to be completed before the first day of class. Since he had some free time and he knew he was a slow reader, Galo decided to get a head start on the three readings for his biology class. He only paused in his work when dinner time came around, burning which he shared some noodles and frozen vegetables with Remi.

A few hours after dinner, Remi knocked on the door to Galo’s bedroom. “I forgot to pick up something at the store,” he explained. “I’m gonna head out. Do you need or want anything?”

“I’m okay, thanks,” Galo replied, smiling. He watched Remi lace up his shoes and walk out, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Galo decided to change into his pajamas to complete the rest of his work before going to bed. Feeling a little childish, he picked out a pair of long pajama pants with fire trucks printed on them - his personal favorite sleeping outfit. He was busy reading again when he heard another knock, this time coming from the door to their shared living space. Assuming Remi had forgotten his keys or his wallet, he got up from his desk and went to answer the door.

When he opened the door, he found Lio, clad in his pajamas as well and holding a steaming hot mug of tea. The young man smiled softly up at Galo and brushed a stray lock of hair out of his eyes.

 _Well,_ Galo thought, _this is a unique turn of events._

> @rawchickn


	3. Tea Time

What do you do when the person you’ve been thinking about all day suddenly appears at your door, smiling and dressed in his pajamas? Galo never thought he’d have to ask himself that question.

Not standing around like an idiot would be a good place to start.

“Oh, hi!” Galo began, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. _Act natural._ “Y-you’re Lio, right?” _Nice one, Thymos._

“Yeah, that’s me. Lio Fotia.” _Lio Fotia._ “Your name’s Galo?”

“Yep! Galo Thymos!” Galo replied, giving a short, awkward laugh. “So… what brings you to my room?”

“Oh, I wanted to know if you happened to have any honey,” Lio responded. “I like to have tea before bed; it helps me sleep better. I have to put something sweet in, though. Chamomile tea tastes too strong and herbal without honey to cut it. I heard you and your roommate went shopping earlier, so I figured if anyone had honey or sugar, it would be you two.”

Thank whatever gods were watching that Galo and Remi went grocery shopping. “Well, Lio, you’re in luck! I bought a new bottle of honey this afternoon. I also like to have tea sometimes, so I feel you.”

“Do you mind sharing some? You don’t have to.”

“No, you’re totally welcome to it! I haven’t even opened the bottle yet.” Galo stopped, leaning against the doorframe, trying to appear as casual as he could. He smiled at Lio, and yes, maybe he flexed his biceps a little bit. Just a little, nothing major.

Lio smiled back at him, and a period of uncomfortable silence stretched on between the two. Lio quirked one eyebrow and shifted from one foot to the other. “Can… I come in?” he asked hesitantly.

“Wait - oh yeah, sure! Sorry,” Galo replied. “Sorry, that was kinda stupid. Like, what am I gonna do, just keep you standing there all night?” he asked as he led Lio into the kitchen of his room with Remi.

“Hey, please don’t worry about it. I think all of us are tired after today, and tomorrow is going to be even longer. My roommates are both asleep already.”

“Speaking of your roommates,” Galo interjected, “Are you in the quad?”

“Yes, actually. I’m living with Gueira and Meis. We were supposed to have a fourth roommate, but he emailed us halfway through the summer to tell us that he decided to take a gap year.” He paused. “I was initially disappointed that I was assigned to a quad. I thought it would be too much. Gueira and Meis are both nice, though. We get along really well already.”

“Well that’s good,” Galo responded as he fished around in one of the kitchen cabinets for the unopened bottle of honey. “Does your room look like this? Like, are there four bedrooms or just two with two beds in each?”

“Do you have paper and a pencil?”

“Yep, my room is the one on the left, my notebook is open on the desk.”

Lio left to retrieve said notebook and a pencil from Galo’s room as Galo finally found the bottle of honey. He was busy peeling off the protective seal on the bottle when Lio returned. He began sketching the layout of his room for Galo.

“So we have a shared kitchen, bathroom, and living space just like you,” he explained, drawing an L-shaped space. “We have three bedrooms instead of two. One has two beds and the others have one bed each.” He drew two squares next to each other and one larger square. He labelled them with each occupant’s first initial as he explained which bedroom belonged to whom. “Gueira took one single bedroom, Meis took the other single, and I decided on the room with the two beds. Neither of them wanted the extra space - it feels empty.”

Galo observed Lio’s sketch of the dorm room as he passed the bottle of honey to Lio, who thanked him quietly, adding a generous amount to his mug of tea. Other than the extra two-person bedroom, the dorm looked exactly like his and Remi’s. “Is it weird having another bed in the room? Do you have two sets of drawers? Or two desks?” Lio looked at him quizzically.

“I sent a picture in the group chat,” he said, furrowing his brow. _Group chat? What group chat? Did I miss something important?_ Galo’s confusion must have been painfully obvious, and Lio took pity on him, cringing slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude. We made a group chat with everyone on the floor during lunch. I forgot you and your roommate weren’t there. If you give me your number, I can add you.”

“I- yeah, sure, thank you!”

Lio took out his phone and pulled up an empty contact for Galo to fill in. He typed in his name, phone number, and wrote “Room 327” in the notes section. Just in case Lio forgot who he was, or something. He really hoped that wouldn’t happen. He then texted himself from Lio’s phone, waiting until he felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket to make sure he had Lio’s phone number saved in his messages as well.

“Cool, I’ll add you to the chat. Fair warning, it’s already gotten a little out of hand. Gueira likes to text,” Lio said, taking his phone back and sipping his tea. Galo pulled out his phone and saved Lio’s number, double-checking the spelling with Lio, which Lio found to be hilarious. “I promise I’m not making fun of you,” he explained, giggling. Galo decided that he quite liked that laugh and he wanted to hear it a lot more. “People butcher the spelling of my name all the time. I think it’s really funny.”

Just then, Galo got his first text from the group chat, creatively titled “Ardor Hall Bitches and Beans”. Interesting choice. He wondered whose idea that was.

.Ardor Hall Bitches and Beans.

Gueira: Has anyone else not signed up for an advisor appointment bc i’m lowkey highkey freaking tf out

Aina: Hey, I wouldn’t worry! Try to send an email ASAP, I’m sure your advisor didn’t forget about you :)

Gueira: tysm i’m such a dumbass omfg

Galo glanced up at Lio, who was watching him with amusement. “Bitches and Beans?” he asked.

Lio smirked. “Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t know why or when that name came around. We’ve known each other for a day and a half and already we’re being categorized into either ‘bitches’ or ‘beans’. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“I guess I’m a bean,” Galo said. Lio laughed.

“I guess I’m a bitch,” he replied. Galo couldn’t help but crack a smile. He was starting to get more comfortable around Lio. He seemed like a pretty nice guy and he had a decent sense of humor. Galo was beginning to think that they could end up being great friends. This conversation wasn’t taking them anywhere, though. He decided to change the subject to try to get to know more about Lio.

“So, you’re an artist, right?” he asked. Lio nodded, taking another sip of his tea. “What type of art do you do?”

“Like, what medium? ”

“Yeah.”

“I like working with acrylics the most, but if I end up pursuing an art major, I’ll have to produce works in all different mediums to present as a senior capstone project. Acrylics feel the most natural to me. I’ve been painting with acrylics and watercolors since I was a kid.”

“That’s cool! Are your parents artists, too?” Galo asked. Lio’s face fell.

“I’d rather not talk about my parents,” he replied. Galo cringed inwardly. _Nice, Galo. Now you really fucked it up._

“Hey, no worries! That was my bad. So, um, are you thinking about being a full-time artist after you graduate?” he asked. Lio’s face lifted a bit as he gave Galo a tiny smile.

“To be honest, I’m not sure what I want to do. It would be nice to make a living as an artist, but I don’t know if I’m capable of that. Do you know what you want to do?”

Galo shrugged. “I’m hoping to be an EMT. My main goal in life is to help people, and I had a lot of health problems as a kid, so I guess this is my way of giving back to the medical field that saved my life so many times. I know I want to be some sort of healthcare worker. That’s just what my soul’s been telling me since I was in elementary school.”

“Ah, that’s right. You’re planning on majoring in health sciences, right?”

“Yep!”

“That’s a hard major, but a good career path. It sounds like you want to do good in the world. I like that,” Lio muttered, finishing the last bit of his tea. Galo’s mind was doing gymnastics. “Is your schedule crazy? I heard horror stories about how people in science-based majors have to take a ton of heavy courses.”

“It’s not too bad,” Galo replied. “I’m taking two biology classes and a chemistry course, but I also have to take English 101 for the freshman writing requirement.”

Lio suddenly perked up. “When do you have English 101?”

Galo scratched his head, thinking. “Um… I think 9 in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

“Damn. I’m taking 101 at 10 AM.”

“Aw. Bummer. That would’ve been awesome if we were in the same class.”

Lio tilted his head to the side, thinking to himself for a moment. “Maybe we could study together sometime. I don’t know anyone else in the class yet.”

“Ah, um, yeah! That would be fun.” Galo was certain he was blushing judging by the heat in his cheeks, and he prayed that Lio hadn’t noticed. _Don’t lose your cool. Please don’t lose your cool._ As long as he kept breathing, he would be fine. He beamed at Lio, who was sitting on the countertop and was (hopefully) oblivious to Galo’s blushing face,

“Speaking of fun, the guys and I are planning a small party for Friday night. Just to hang out and get to know everyone better. We mentioned it in the chat, but I figured I’d tell you now since you won’t get the old messages.”

“A party, huh? I’ll be there,” Galo replied with glee. He hesitated for a second. “Is there gonna be drinking? Like, I’m not a prude or anything, I’ve had alcohol before… I just don’t want to get caught. I can’t have disciplinary points on my record if I want to be an EMT.”

Lio shrugged. “We have alcohol, but I doubt anyone is gonna be going hard. None of us want to get points either. It’s way too early in the semester to be acting like a delinquent.” Well, at least he wasn’t some insane partier. That would be a huge turn-off for Galo. Some partying was okay, but Galo knew that there were some college newbies who ended up ruining their careers because of their compulsive need to get drunk and go wild on weekends. Thank goodness Lio appeared to have his future in mind, just like Galo did. He hoped that Gueira and Meis had the same mindset as him and Lio.

> @rawchickn

“Well, Galo, it was nice talking to you,” Lio said, sliding off of the countertop he had been sitting on. “I really should be getting to bed. My advisor meeting is pretty early in the morning.”

“No problem! I should probably be getting to sleep, too.” He walked to the door with Lio, who was definitely starting to show signs of drowsiness. Maybe Galo needed to invest in some chamomile tea as well. Before he left, Lio turned around and smiled up at Galo one more time.

“Goodnight, Galo. Thanks again for letting me use your honey.”

“Goodnight, Lio! You’re welcome to it at any time! Just come knock,” he replied. He waved goodbye to Lio as he walked back to his shared room with Gueira and Meis. Once he closed the door behind him, he walked back to his bedroom and flopped down face-first on the bed. After lying completely still for a full minute and a half, he pulled out his phone and searched through the floor’s group chat to find Aina’s contact so he could text her personally.

.Aina.

Galo: hey, Aina? it’s Galo.

Aina: Oh! Hiya, Galo. What’s up?

Galo: okay okay so i know we don’t know each other super well yet

Galo: but can i tell you something?

Suddenly, Galo heard a key turning in the front door and felt a brief surge of panic before realizing that it was just Remi returning to the dorm room. He waved at Galo before unpacking a few groceries and heading to his bedroom for the night. Galo smiled at him and turned back to his screen as soon as Remi shut his bedroom door.

.Aina.

Galo: remember that guy Lio?

Aina: Of course I remember Lio, silly.

Galo: okay well, remember how you said to just act normal

Aina: Galo… How could I forget? You had stars in your eyes when you looked at him.

Galo: i know, it’s embarrassing! i don’t know what to do!

Galo: i don’t even know if he likes guys like that or not

Aina: You can’t be serious. Look at him.

Galo: okay, yeah. but how do i make him like me, tho?

Galo: like i want him to think i’m smart and stuff but i’ve already been weird

Aina: Okay, hear me out. You have to just be yourself, flaws and all. Maybe he has feelings for you, too, but wouldn’t you want him to have feelings for your true self and not some weird act you’re putting on to try to impress him? You’re better off just being you.

Galo: you know what? you’re right.

Galo: ty for the advice :)

Aina: You’re welcome :) Now go to sleep!

Galo: i will :)

Before he went to sleep, Galo set his alarm and made a note in his phone to add Remi to the group chat tomorrow morning. He didn’t want Remi to feel left out. Also, what kind of roommate doesn’t have their roommate’s number? Galo needed to step up his game.

Even though he tried to sleep, he kept tossing and turning. His mind was all over the place, thinking about his classes, if Lio liked him, if his advisor was going to have time to meet with him, and everything else under the sun. When it came to his classes, he knew that he would be okay. He might act dumb sometimes, but when it came to cold cut biology, chemistry, and physics, he knew his stuff. College classes were going to be harder than his high school classes, and he knew that, but he knew he could handle it. If he really needed to, he would talk to his professors to ask for help, or he could find himself a tutor or something. Also, he knew realistically that his advisor would have time to meet with him tomorrow. Every faculty advisor was assigned a certain number of students, so Galo’s advisor probably kept a time slot open for Galo anyway since he hadn’t reached out until today to schedule a meeting for tomorrow.

Now, to think about Lio.

If he was being completely honest with himself, Galo would tell himself to let it go for now. He just met Lio today. He hadn’t even known him for twenty-four hours yet. There was no way of knowing what the future was going to be like. Perhaps the most unsettling part about this new crush was how different it felt from all of his previous crushes. Before, Galo would take interest in someone, and eventually that interest would grow into a crush. If it was strong enough and he felt confident that the feeling was mutual, he would ask the person on a date to see where things went. With Lio, though, it was like a wildfire - one spark led to his whole consciousness going up in flames. He felt like he couldn’t control his emotions, and being helpless to stop his heart from running rampant was scary, to say the least. _Ah, to be young and in love,_ he thought to himself in dismay.

He finally decided that the best he could do at this point was to let it go. If Lio ended up liking him back, then great! If not, no biggie. He would be sad, of course, but he couldn’t force Lio to like him. He’d survive.

Finally, after having thoroughly explored every worry inside of his brain, Galo was able to slip into a peaceful sleep. Hopefully tomorrow wouldn’t be as emotionally draining as today was for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait - I hope everyone is enjoying the fic and art so far! Please follow @rawchickn on twitter/tumblr and @redpanda813 on tumblr

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my artists, @rawchickn and @redpanda813 for their fantastic flexibility, positive attitudes, and wonderful artwork. <3


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